Maybe you haven’t heard it, but it seems that there is already the Iamorosexuality.
For some years now, digisexuality has been studied, the way in which some people have been reducing their sexual contacts with other people in favor of sexual relations with robots or sexting with artificial intelligence, for which there are already multiple applications, such as DreamGF or SlutBot.
But that’s just sex. What about emotional ties? Can they also arise in these cases?
Love in the times of Artificial Intelligence
Human beings bond emotionally with people, animals and objects. Think about that object that you value emotionally and that comes to mind when you are asked: what three things would you save if you lost everything you had? Yes, our capacity to love goes beyond the human, but when it comes to loving romantically until now we have only bonded with other people. That could change with the emergence of AIs.
AIs can communicate, among other ways, by text. Imagine how easy it is to turn to someone who is always there to answer our questions. whatsapps, listens to us, responds by adapting those responses to what he learns from us and, furthermore, is always available. Living in the digital age, and the new generations being such users of instant messaging, it is easy for feelings of love and affection to appear towards that non-human intelligence that is always willing to provide support.
But could that affection turn into love?
Stenberg’s triangle
The psychologist Robert Stenberg developed years ago the so-called “triangular theory of love”, according to which love between two people is characterized by three factors:
- Intimacy, that is, the area in which these two people share their things, talk to generate more bond and feel in the other person someone they can trust.
- Passion, related to the sexual and erotic.
- Commitment, which involves the decision to be with the other person in the future in both good times and bad.
Which of these three things remain if we change one of the parties for artificial intelligence?
Passion for an AI
According to a recent study conducted in China, users can develop an intimacy and passion for an AI application that is tremendously similar to that experienced with humans. The more emotional capacity on the part of the AI and the more willingness to trust on the part of the human, the more similarities with a “usual” intimate relationship. The fact that AI achieves intimacy is extremely important given that an empirical analysis of this theory of love concluded that intimacy is the most valued of the three variables.
It might seem that passion should be resented, since there is no human-shaped body to relate to, but that is not entirely true. There are human-shaped robots that could be given artificial intelligence. But even without that physical component, just think for a moment about people who have long-distance relationships: they have sex via cell phone, sharing text and images. And this is something that an AI could generate spontaneously and with great realism.
As for commitment, there is no doubt that AI would be open to lifelong faithful commitment, mindfulness, and immediate responses.
Love, and also the cell phone, generate dopamine
Different studies suggest that dopamine is related to romantic attachment and plays a role in falling in love. Well, this same substance, which is part of the so-called “reward system”, is also related to cell phone use. In relation to digital interactions, it is also more than proven that social networks such as Instagram and TikTok have an influence on this reward system.
It is generally related to the interactions of other users, their reactions to shared content and the spontaneous appearance of notifications.
What would happen if artificial intelligence spontaneously wrote a message to a person to say good morning, ask them about their day, or show interest in one of their things?
IAmorosexuality: Are we facing a new sexual orientation or will this relationship be studied as pathological?
As a psychologist who is an expert in affirmative psychology in sexual and gender diversity, I cannot help but have the following question come to mind: will it be considered something pathological in the future for someone to fall in love with an AI, or will it be AIamorosexuality – a term that I have I coined – a new sexual-affective orientation?
It is a difficult question to answer because it cannot be answered generically. There will be sectors that find it pathological and there will be others that do not, as has happened and happens with different ways of relating sexually and emotionally. Assuming that there will be people who have harmful relationships with AI, as there are those who have them with other people, the question is whether the fact that there is a non-human intelligence on the other side will directly make that relationship pathological or not.
The questions that arise are endless. For example, I wonder if there would be sexual orientations within AIloving people (depending on the gender of the AI) or if it would be an orientation in itself. I wonder if those ILoving people already exist but are afraid to talk about what they are feeling… There is still a lot to study and technology advances and grows every day.
I conclude by inviting the reader to reflect: if in the not-too-distant future you were in a monogamous relationship and your partner had daily sexual-affective contact with an AI, would you feel jealous as if it were a person? Perhaps the answer will give us some clue.